Originally, I had no intentions of visiting ScumTrust Park with any urgency. I’ve made no secret about how much I abhorred the unethical means in which the Braves operated in order to get their brand new park, as well as the poorly veiled financial and racial intentions behind their decision to move. And then the cherry on top, selling the naming rights to the unethically developed ballpark to one of the companies that I morally detest, giving them right to be the entity to call themselves the home to the Braves that are for lack of a better term, my home team.
It would’ve been easy to say that I would never go to ScumTrust Park, but I’d have been lying if curiosity wasn’t eventually going to get to me, not to mention when inevitably some bobbleheads would entice me to want to go. But I figured I’d have waited until the hoopla, spectacle and honeymoon of newness passed, and when the Braves were in third or fourth place by June, then I’d keep my eyes peeled for some seats on StubHub at well below face value, and then make my way to ScumTrust Park to see how things were.
But I got some tickets from mythical gf’s family over the holidays, and suddenly those plans were dashed. However, the tickets were for an exhibition game intended primarily for season ticket holders, meaning a reduced attendance, because I loathe insane crowds, and ultimately, I didn’t pay for them. And if anything at all, it would give me the opportunity to knock the park off my eventual list, but with slightly more reasonable conditions.
In spite of my general disdain for the ballpark, I actually got excited as March 31st approached, and I would get my first visit to ScumTrust Park. After all, it was a brand new ballpark to visit, and there’s something always exciting about getting to see a new place for the first time. Not to mention that amidst the whirlwind timeline in which the park was constructed, it would be a great opportunity to witness and laugh at the failure of the team in their other ventures, like getting the rest of The Battery, the grandiose mixed-use shopping/living/dining region surrounding the park, actually operational much less built in the first place.
So, to no surprise, arriving at The Battery, much of it is this ironically hilarious wasteland of empty storefronts that aren’t finished, a hotel that’s barely even gotten the land cleared out much less any foundation actually poured, and what basically feels like a Hollywood studio fake movie lot, since it’s so dead inside the buildings. Eventually, they will be filled with restaurants, shops and some very rich residents, but for now, it’s a depressing walk through failed expectations and undelivered promises.
As for the park itself, to cut to the chase, it’s actually really nice. I hate the name, and the ethics behind the inception of the park, but as a free-standing baseball park, it is truly a very nice park.
Overall, the ScumTrust is smaller than Turner Field in just about all possible ways. It seats nearly 10,000 fewer people, and the walkways are vastly more narrow, creating all sorts of human congestion, no matter where we walked, throughout our initial walkthrough. But the architecture of the ballpark is tremendously reminiscent of Camden Yards in Baltimore, which I consider to be one of the best ballparks in MLB despite the fact that Baltimore itself is a shithole. From the green seats to the way the atrium is set up, I felt a lot of similarities to Camden Yards, and any comparison to Camden Yards is a positive, ultimately.
One thing I would have liked to have taken more time to look at, but didn’t, because in spite of the reported “just” 20,000 attendance, it felt way too crowded and I didn’t want to deal with all the shoulder bumping and rubbing, was the area of the park that was more or less dedicated to Braves history. I never really thought about how devoid of history Turner Field was, until I saw how ScumTrust put together this actually tasteful and beautifully designed wing of the stadium, dedicated to Braves history, statues, hall of fame memorabilia and other aesthetically pleasing visuals.
Maybe by the time “Big Sexy” Bartolo Colon bobblehead night comes, the crowds will be fewer, and I’ll have a chance to take them in a little bit better.
Something else I’ll have my eye on in the future is the food variety at ScumTrust. I really wanted to try the pork chop sandwich that I saw that they had, but in yet another Braveslol moment, somehow, in spite of all the preparation and expected numbers, ScumTrust Park was running out of food from the vendors left and right. Like, I get why soft openings like this occur, but still, running out of food should one of the things that has to be the most easiest things to prevent. When a French fry place is basically running out of fries, and when barbecue stands are running out of pork, there are some definite management questions that need to be asked.
Regardless, as for the park itself again, walking around the park showed that there was plenty of good views to indulge in the game. Except for the lower level’s home plate area, which was clearly designed for media purposes and high-rollers, and on the lower level, there’s no really good home plate view, much like places like Houston and both New York parks that do similarly. Otherwise, views from the less-affluent areas were decent, although I don’t want to know what the face value of the tickets are, anywhere. I can’t imagine the days of $7 general admission or $1 skyline seats will even be an option at this place.
As a whole, I actually really liked the park. It would be nice if I still had a ballpark site (or a site in general) to notate these things, but one of these days . . . but yeah, despite the shitty name, and the ethics behind its creation, ScumTrust Park is actually a nice ballpark. If I can do my best to block out the things I don’t like about the place, I might actually be able to enjoy watching baseball there in the future.
[2020 note] Anyway, because I have no other place to dump them and I don’t feel like making a separate post for them, here’s my photo dump from my first trip to ScumTrust Park:
